Longtime duo Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker’s latest doc follows master chefs on their quest for excellence. It’s surprisingly thrilling, and very sweet.
It may not sound like your typical thriller: a labor of love documentary about 16 pastry chefs who have risen to the top of their field, invited to compete against themselves in an effort to prove worthy of excellence in the French tradition. Yet Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker’s latest doc, Kings of Pastry, is incredibly thrilling, with twists and turns and roller coasters of emotion that will have you on the edge of your seat.
The Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (aka the MOF, to those of us who took German in high school) is a competition held every 3-4 years, designed to single out the best craftsmen—and they are usually men—in France, across a number of trades. Lasting a grueling three days, the pastry competition is one of the toughest: the resulting buffet tables are immaculate works of art, including painstakingly delicate sugar sculptures, delicate lollipops you’d never find in a Halloween basket, and the most intricate of cakes. Out of the 16 finalists, all could be named MOF at the end of the competition, awarded the red-white-and-blue collar that signifies excellence—but the slightest, most heartbreaking of mistakes always preclude that outcome.
For their film, Hegedus and Pennebaker (The War Room, Don’t Look Back, Monterey Pop) focus primarily on Jacquy Pfeiffer, a French-born chef who has taken root in Chicago, where he owns the simply named French Pastry School. When we first meet him, Pfeiffer has been preparing for the contest for months, progressing through a series of competitions to reach the finals: the three-day competition in Lyon. His days are now filled with dry runs—working out the intricacies of sugar and eggs and butter and flour that are the basis of his craft, and perfecting his art, which can be adversely affected by the smallest shifts in temperature, humidity, or touch.
Over the next 84 minutes, Kings of Pastry follows him to France, offering for the first time a behind-the-scenes look at such a competition. We meet his fellow-chefs, who have similar stories of lifelong dedication and pursuit of dreams, and we hold our breath as sculptures are moved from the kitchen to the display tables. It’s not for the faint of heart.
Last week, we visited with the filmmakers in their Upper West Side Offices, where we talked about permission-less filmmaking, chocolate bustiers, and the perfect lollipop.
Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker
Tribeca: How did you learn about the MOF?
Chris Hegedus: Our friend Flora Lazar moved to Chicago, and she decided to take a class at the French Pastry School. She learned about Jacquy Pfeiffer going to compete in this epic contest in France, to get this red, white and blue collar that these awarded chefs wear. We wondered what this was all about, so we flew out to Chicago and met Jacquy, and it just sounded like this unbelievable, bizarre, grueling event that had such importance and prestige for trades in France. It seemed very different from the food channel competitions to us—it was really a lifelong, cultural, historic award.
Tribeca: It’s also not a competition—everyone can win.
D.A. Pennebaker: Right, it’s a club you get to join. The school is a very big operation. You see 40-50 people learning how to do something they never thought they’d learn in their lives. You wonder: Why would he go to a competition in France, when it takes him out of his place for six months or so, and costs so much? So you think, there’s more here than meets the eye.
Tribeca: Can you talk a bit about the process? How often did you film, and for how long?
Chris Hegedus: Basically, we met Jacquy in July, and the contest was in October. We liked each other, and decided to go on this adventure together. It was August in France, and we tried to get a hold of the MOF organization, and everyone was on vacation. We couldn’t get any permissions, but we decided to go ahead anyway. We filmed several times that month, and then in September, Jacquy was going to Alsace, so we had to make the decision to go without funding. (No one is going to fund something without knowing you have the permissions.) But since we pretty much shot this ourselves, it wasn’t a big expense or risk; we didn’t have to hire a crew.
So basically we ended up in October going to Lyon to the competition, meeting the officials, and getting permission on the spot. The permission had a lot of qualifications: they said, “You can do it, the chefs agreed, but we have to see what it’s like.” They had never let anyone in to film—or even watch—before. “So after every night, they will decide whether they want to have you again.” So we went through this process each night.
On the 3rd day, they were like, “Okay, [the chefs] are really scared now, to have you there. Everybody is going to be carrying their sculptures to the buffet table, and you can’t go running all around. You have to stand at the end of the table in this little square, and that’s where you have to stay.”
Tribeca: Wow!
D.A. Pennebaker: It’s basically a home movie, as most of our films are. No lights.
Kings of Pastry is now playing at Film Forum. Hegedus and Pennebaker will be at select screenings; check the website. Find tickets. Find out when Kings of Pastry will come to a town near you.